Coming to Terms
by LMPGT
Summary: Naruto has always been seen as an outcast or a nuisance. What happens when an upbeat newcomer from an equally dark background brings out a Naruto that no one ever knew? Will it be better, worse, or just... different?
1. Chapter 1

*Hello, everyone! I've read quite a few stories on here in the past year, so I thought I'd take a crack at writing one of my own. This may have a bit of a familiar feel to it - A quick recap on how Naruto was oppressed, Sakura treating Naruto like crap and hurting him, Naruto reflecting on his self worth, etc. However, my plan is to have a short intervention from a character from one of my favorite (game) series and have him leave a profound impact on Naruto that contributes to character development that's a bit different from the canon storyline. If anyone reading ever played Bloody Roar II, you might enjoy the guest appearance. Anyway, let's get started!*

 *** - Author's note  
" - Speech  
' - Thoughts  
 _bold italics_ \- Narration**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bloody Roar.

 ** _The village of Konoha had always shunned Naruto Uzumaki since the day he was born. Some villagers did it out of anger for losing their loved ones, some did it out of fear of the Kyuubi's return, and some did it merely to fit in with the crowd. Labeling the boy as an outcast was easy; finding an actual fault with the boy was not. Hiruzen Sarutobi knew of Naruto's true, gentle nature, and despite the blonde boy's antics that made life in the village slightly inconvenient, he knew his actions were desperate cries for attention and acceptance. Naruto's recent promotion to a genin was a step in the right direction for the boy's pride, but the Sandaime could see the latent pain and suffering that still remained in the boy's ocassional solemn expressions. Hiruzen prayed for the day that someone would come along to accept Naruto and give him the push he needed to progress as both an individual and a shinobi, and while he did not live to see it happen, the Third Hokage's prayer became a reality._**

"Come on, Sakura-chan! Just go on ONE date with me!" Naruto begged as Team 7 was returning from a mission.

"Ugh, Naruto..." the blonde's pink haired teammate sighed. A conversation of this nature occurred daily between the two.

"Yes, Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto with a hopeful gleam in his eye. Sakura usually bonked him on the head at this point, so he thought she might finally give in. Unfortunately, something far worse happened...

"I will NEVER, EVER, _EVER_ go on a date with you. You're weird, you're annoying, and you just get in the way! You ruin everything - it's like you're a monster. It's no wonder everyone likes Sasuke better than you." Sakura knew she'd feel slightly guilty for that later, but getting Naruto to buzz off was her only concern at the moment. Her guilt only seemed more imminent once she saw the disturbed expression on his face.

"Sakura, I..." the poor boy stammered, at a loss for words. He had heard much worse from the villagers throughout his troubled childhood, but never did he think that he'd hear that from someone that he held in such high regard.

The pinkette sounded slightly apologetic, but stayed firm. "Look, Naruto... Maybe now you'll realize it's time to move on."

"You're right, Sakura," the blonde stated quietly. "Despite it being an impossible task, I realize that I should've moved on by now. In fact, I've realized a lot of things..."

"Huh? Like what?" Sakura asked, almost dumbfounded that the supposed knucklehead could deduce anything on his own.

"Nothing _you'd_ understand. I'll be going now. Sorry to bother you so much, Sakura. I won't be a burden to you anymore." With that, Naruto turned in the opposite direction and began walking away. Naruto's sudden change in mood made a combination of guilt and curiousity wash over Sakura.

"What do you mean by that? Come back, Naruto!" shouted Sakura as she started to walk after him. Naruto had increased his pace to a full sprint by the time she had finished her question, putting enough distance between them to where Sakura couldn't catch up.

"You'll just never understand, Sakura," Naruto mumbled to himself as he tried his hardest to hold back his tears. "No one seems to understand... Not even my teammates want me around. They probably don't even care if I return to the village. Maybe we'll just see about that..."

 _ **Meanwhile, back in Konoha...**_

A young boy stood in front of the Fifth Hokage's desk. He was just older than Naruto and the rest of the genin, yet quite a bit taller. He wore a light, sleeveless gi that somehow didn't come off obnoxious like Naruto's attire despite its vibrant yellow hue. The sleeves appeared to have been ripped off, but the rest of his outfit was rather tidy - he wore a red waist sash with a matching red scarf that was almost inconveniently long. He also donned some light battle gear; his hands were wrapped in brown gloves and metal plates closer to his elbows, and he had matching leg gear, with light armor running up his shins that was supported by thin belts along his thighs and attached to his waist. The boy's hair was a shade darker than Hinata's bluish-black color, and the neatly combed style with wild bangs completed a contradictory yet fitting image for the boy.

Lady Tsunade eyed him for several moments, letting her gut tell her whether the guards made a mistake in letting a complete stranger in the village for evaluation despite the boy's genuine nature.

"So, you planned on defecting to Konoha, huh?" Tsunade sounded amused yet intrigued to hear his reply.

'Well," he answered, "I didn't really plan on going to any destination in particular... I was just looking for a new place to call home, and this is the first nice place I found!"

"Well, aren't you a lucky young man to stumble across this village," Tsunade said with a small smile from his high regard for Konoha.

"Oh yes, ma'am!" the boy shot back ecstatically. "It would be an even greater honor if you approved my residency here!"

The blonde woman chuckled and calmly replied, "Whoa now, don't get ahead of yourself, squirt. I don't even have your name yet."

The boy cringed at the thought of forgetting his manners and not introducing himself. "Oh, my apologies, Lord Hokage! My name is Kenji Ogami. I would be ever so grateful if you could consider my request for citizenship in your fine village."

Tsunade chuckled harder at Kenji's nervousness. "Kid, no need for the formalities. Just call me Tsunade. It's nice to have someone around that actually knows decent manners though." She sighed as her thoughts shifted to a certain disruptive, blonde, knucklehead ninja. "Anyway, you seem to have the desire to join the Leaf Village with no malicious intent. Let us begin an evaluation of your skills. We will assign your rank and duties from there... If all goes well." Kenji exhibited a wide grin as he followed the Fifth to the training fields.

'This gives me a great idea,' Tsunade thought to herself. 'I wonder how the teams will react when I give them the news…'

 _ **The next day...**_

Team 7 returned to the village without Naruto. The rest of the team, save Sasuke, was worried about his return, Kakashi more so than Sakura. He could already feel Sasuke slipping due to the curse mark and his desire for power; he didn't want to have any risk of losing Naruto as well, even if all that had happened was a bit of heartbreak.

Kakashi reported the success of the mission to Lady Tsunade, but he froze in fear after seeing her reaction to Naruto's disappearance. Thankfully, after explaining the situation to Tsunade, her only negative reaction was towards Sakura.

"Good god, Sakura," Tsunade scolded. "I know you don't like the kid, but he's had it rough. Give him a damned break for once."

"I-I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama..." Sakura mumbled weakly.

"Don't apologize to me," the blonde woman retorted. "Apologize to your teammate. Knowing him, he'll be back by tomorrow after he vents alone. You can do it then. Speaking of tomorrow, there will be another person you all will be acquainting yourselves with at dawn."

Kakashi's brow furrowed as he curiously asked, "What do you mean? Are we being assigned another mission?"

"Almost, but there's a twist, Kakashi," Tsunade corrected. "I have passed a new training initiative for the village. It involves the addition of a chunin to each of our current genin squads. This will allow the chunin to both observe jonin and take occasional leadership roles that will serve as experience towards becoming jonin themselves. When he meets you later on, you will both discuss your mission with your genin students."

Sasuke rolled his eyes in light disgust. "Oh great, another person who wants to tell me what to do and slow me down."

"Sasuke!" Tsunade refuted. "You're lucky your squad's chunin is so well-mannered or else I'd make him put you in your place tomorrow!"

Sasuke chuckled in response to Tsunade's threat. "Hn, like he could land even one hit on me..."

"That's enough, Sasuke," Kakashi intervened. "I'm sure Lady Tsunade knows what she's doing, and I'm confident that our new comrade will be a valuable asset to our team."

Tsunade replied, "You should listen to your sensei, Sasuke. This particular chunin is no regular ninja. He comes from a land far away from the hidden villages. In fact, he just filed for citizenship here yesterday!"

"WHAT?!" The entire room was echoing with the voices of Team 7.

"Yep, he's fresh meat in Konoha. Pretty cute kid, too - I bet the girls will be all over him once they meet him."

Kakashi took a double take and asked Tsunade, "Wait, did you just say _kid?"_

"Indeed I did. He just turned 14!" To no one's surprise, all of Team 7 sweat dropped. Then, Kakashi realized that he could use the rest of the day to catch up on Icha Icha Paradise and thought of an excuse to leave the office.

"Well, that's some interesting news, Tsunade-sama," Kakashi quickly stated, "but we should probably get going now. We'll make sure to give our new member a warm welcome tomorrow at the training fields. Thanks again, bye!" Kakashi hastily led his two remaining students out of the office and shut the door behind them.

"That Kakashi, what an oddball..." Tsunade mumbled to herself. "I can't wait to see what Kenji has in store for those brats tomorrow, especially the Uchiha. I bet he's exactly what that team needs to get whipped into shape." After that thought, the blonde woman poured herself a tall glass of sake before letting her thoughts drift back to Naruto. No matter how annoying the boy acted, her soft spot for him would never fade.

"Naruto, your team and the village need you whether you see it or not... Wherever you are, you better come back tomorrow..."

*Well, that's chapter 1! The stage is set, and Kenji, better known as Bakuryu, is in the mix. Check out chapter 2!*


	2. Chapter 2

*Here's chapter 2! Sorry if this seems a little slow to start. I just wanted to make sure everything is explained thoroughly without introducing any inconsistencies. I promise Kenji's purpose will be revealed in another chapter or two. Enjoy!*

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bloody Roar.

Sasuke and Sakura arrived early to the training fields as instructed by Kakashi, but as usual, he was late and nowhere to be seen. Much to the two genin's suprise, they discovered Naruto at the field heavily punching and kicking a large tree stump.

"Ah, there you are, dobe," Sasuke yelled over to Naruto. "Hitting that thing harder won't save you from being dead last." Despite Sasuke's attempt to egg him on, Naruto continued striking the stump without so much as a glance at either of his teammates. "Hey, Naruto, I'm talking to you. Don't ignore me or you'll regret it."

Naruto finally caved and shot a glare at the Uchiha, making sure he didn't make any sort of eye contact with his pink haired source of misery. "I'm not in the mood to talk, teme. Leave me be."

Sasuke couldn't help but push the issue further. "Aww, are the little baby's feelings still hurt? You better get used to rejection."

Naruto snapped and charged full force at Sasuke with a clenched fist. "That's IT! You dirty mother..."

"That's ENOUGH."

Naruto's fist was only inches away from Sasuke's face when the two turned in the direction of the voice, only to find Kakashi standing with who Sasuke and Sakura figured was their new chunin instructor.

"Uh, Kakashi-sensei, who's this guy?" Naruto questioned.

"Nice to see you too, Naruto..." Kakashi replied sarcastically. "If you hadn't run off yesterday, you would have been around to hear about a new training initiative from Lady Tsunade. All genin squads have now been assigned an additional chunin instructor, and this young man has been assigned to Team 7."

"Why is this joker training us, Kakashi-sensei? Shouldn't we be trained by someone as strong as possible?"

Kakashi sighed at his blonde student's typical closed-minded attitude. "Look, Naruto, I'm your sensei, and you will follow my training regimen. My regimen just so happens to involve Kenji here, so get used to it. I'm sure he'll teach us all a thing or two, myself included."

"Hmph, we'll see about that. Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" A momentary puff of smoke receded and revealed 10 Naruto clones. "He can't be tough enough to take on all of us!" the clones shouted in unison.

Kenji pondered Naruto's action and said, "My word, he made so many clones! He must be a skilled student." All of Team 7 sweat dropped, again, to no one's surprise.

"Boy, do you have the dobe wrong," said Sasuke. "Sure, he can make a few more than normal, but all genin can make clones, and that's all Naruto can ever do."

Kenji politely protested, trying to give all of his students equal credit. "Now, now... Sasuke, was it? At least I think that's right from my info on you all... Anyway, don't sell Naruto short! I would enjoy him demonstrating his abilities for me."

"Hn, suit yourself then. Just don't expect much."

A vein slowly became visible on each of the blonde clones' foreheads as they shouted, "Alright, here I come! No holding back!"

Kenji smirked, simply admiring the boy's tenacity. "Very well then! Hopefully I can gain your respect as a teacher from this." Kenji sprinted towards the crowd of clones, and right as it seemed he was attempting to strike, a puff of smoke appeared, revealing a log in Kenji's place. This tactic puzzled Kakashi slightly as he had never seen substitution applied in such a way.

"Substitution? As a first move, and an offensive one? He really isn't from around here..." Kakashi was right - it was an unorthodox move to someone from the Hidden Leaf Village, but it was an effective move nonetheless. The move caused Naruto great confusion for a split second, and before any of the clones could double take to look for him, Kenji dispelled each clone in what could only be described as a yellow flurry of strikes. Before Naruto's confusion could subside, Kenji held him up high with one hand by the collar of his jacket with seemingly minimal effort.

"H-hey, how'd you do that?! Put me down! Heyyyy!" Naruto screamed, wildly thrashing about and trying to break free of Kenji's grip.

Kakashi stood in awe of the young man's display of agility. 'Was that… the Hiraishin…?' he thought to himself. 'No, it couldn't be… Then, who is this kid?'

Sakura was hard-pressed to convince herself that Sasuke was still superior. 'Wow, he really is good... I'm sure Sasuke could do that though! And Sasuke is still better looking! Lady Tsunade was right though. He is pretty cute...'

Sasuke didn't want to give anyone credit of course, but even he couldn't deny that this newcomer had unbelievable skill. 'He's fast, almost too fast... Then again, he had Naruto as a target. How much easier can you have it? I'll show him how it's done on a real mission...'

"Very impressive, Kenji," said Kakashi, breaking the tension in the air as usual. "Naruto, maybe this will teach you to respect those above you." Naruto groaned from being reprimanded and looked away as always. "Anyway, we have our first mission as a group of five. Lady Tsunade has assigned us to patrol the outskirts of Otogakure and watch for suspicious activity. I will be leading the way, but Kenji will assign roles and commands tomorrow. Any questions?"

The three genin shook their heads in compliance.

"Good. I'll see the four of you at the gates tomorrow. Don't be late."

"HE'S telling US not to be late?!" Naruto and Sakura shouted simultaneously. Sasuke offered a simple "hn" in response and began walking back to the village with a certain pink haired girl following closely behind, begging him to wait up for her. With their leave, that left Naruto and Kenji alone.

"Naruto, I..."

"Save it. I've been embarrassed enough in front of people."

"That's not what I intended to do... I just wanted you to know that I know how you..."

"You know how I what, huh? You don't know a damned thing about me!"

"I know what it's like to be an outcast..." Naruto gave the young man a puzzled stare.

"W-what do you mean, Kenji...?"

"We'll have a chat about it later, okay?" Kenji wanted to show the boy that others could relate to him, but there were more pressing matters at hand. "We have a mission tomorrow, so let's head back to the village and prepare."

With that, Naruto gave Kenji a nod, and the two headed back to Konoha without exchanging another word.

 _ **The next morning...**_

All of Team 7 promptly arrived at the village gate at dawn. Even Kakashi arrived on time to everyone's surprise.

"Alright, are we all clear on the objective?" Kakashi questioned. "This is a patrol mission, but we don't know the capabilities of our enemies, so be ready to engage if necessary." The team confirmed and headed towards the outskirts of the Sound Village.

Kenji led the formation and assigned roles. "I will lead the formation up front. Sakura, cover my left, Sasuke my right. Naruto, create a clone and monitor our 6, understood?"

"Yea, yea... " the blonde grumbled.

"Kenji, I'll join you up front for a bit," suggested Kakashi.

Kenji was slightly confused by his suggestion. "Kakashi, there's an opening in the middle. I planned on you holding the middle position and watching for attacks from above or below."

"Kenji, I have a reason for this. Just trust me. You'll see why in a bit." With that, Kakashi took his place next to Kenji at the front as the formation headed away from the village. After a few minutes of traveling, Kakashi began to explain his actions.

"Kakashi, please tell me why you insisted on leading the formation with me. Are my skills not up to your liking?"

"No, no… It's not that at all. Your skills are remarkable, in all honesty. The reason I'm up here is that I need to give you some important information."

"I'm listening," assured Kenji.

"That boy to your right, Sasuke Uchiha… He's a unique student of mine. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to nearly everyone else, including him, he's one of the biggest potential threats to the Leaf Village."

"But, how can that be?" Kenji questioned. "He doesn't seem traitorous in the slightest."

"You're right, he doesn't" Kakashi confirmed. "However, his older brother slaughtered the entire Uchiha clan save Sasuke, and now Sasuke wants to exact his revenge by any means necessary. An evil ninja by the name of Orochimaru has placed a curse seal on Sasuke… It allows Sasuke to draw upon dark chakra and drastically increase his power while in use. That power increase makes Sasuke want more, and eventually Orochimaru will be able to coax Sasuke into joining him in exchange for more of that power. If Sasuke is in Orochimaru's hands, there's no telling what could happen to the Leaf Village as a result."

"My, this is serious… Has he shown any intent of leaving?"

"Not quite," Kakashi continued, "but I have a gut feeling that something is going to happen in a short time… Orochimaru is responsible for the recent attack on Konoha and the assassination of our Third Hokage, his former sensei. Orochimaru has a grudge against our village, and Sasuke is the perfect tool for him to use to complete his plans. That's why we're patrolling Otogakure - the Sound ninja are loyal to Orochimaru, and we need to make sure that we curb any attempt to capture Sasuke."

"I see… this is quite a predicament," Kenji mused. "Is there anything I can do in particular?"

"I'm not sure, Kenji. The only thing I can think of that would keep Sasuke here is someone showing him how powerful one can become without taking a path of darkness."

"Power from a path of darkness…" Kenji began to mumble to himself. He squinted his eyes and clutched his head in pain, all the while failing to notice a large tree branch hanging in his path.

"Kenji, watch it!" Kakashi yelled. Kenji snapped out of his trance just in time to dodge the branch. The entire team gazed at him questioningly while Kakashi asked what was the matter. "What happened? You would've smacked that branch head on if I didn't snap you out of it."

"I.. I'm sorry. I just lost focus for a minute. We should keep moving!"

'There's more to this kid than I thought,' Kakashi mused to himself. 'I already have enough to worry about with Sasuke… I hope Kenji can handle himself.'

*Uh oh, what's wrong with Kenji? Bad memories, maybe? I'll get around to chapter 3 within a couple days. There's not much fresh material to review so far, but feel free to leave one if you like. Thanks!*


	3. Chapter 3

*Sorry about the long wait to those few who follow this story... I was super busy over the summer with work, and now I'm back in college, so I'll be pretty busy. Being an engineering major doesn't help with that... I'l try to put something out here and there, though. Anyway, here we go, chapter 3! There's a bit of action in this one, and some interesting character development should follow. Enjoy!*

Team 7 had spent most of the day traveling, and they decided to set up camp for the evening. The beginning of enemy territory was only another day's worth of travel away. However, despite their distance from Otogakure, a few ninja had their eyes on the unsuspecting team...

"Alright everyone," Kakashi inquired, "is this spot good enough? We're about a day away from the outskirts of Otogakure, so we should rest and prepare for tomorrow." The team agreed and began to set up shelter, save Kenji.

"Kenji, are you gonna help or what?" asked Sasuke in a slightly annoyed tone. "I can't rely on the dobe to help me; he'll mess something up."

"Give me a break, Sasuke... It's a campsite, not a math test."

While the two shot back and forth, Kenji stood silently with his head down and eyes closed.

"Great, he's standing still. It looks like we have another useless teammate..." Sasuke continued. "Looks like I'm the only competent one our age when it comes to performing duties."

Kenji jumped straight at Sasuke immediately following his remark. Sasuke instinctively took a defensive stance, prepared to fend off his so-called teammate. However, before Sasuke could react, Kenji had pulled him behind a tree with blazing speed as a dozen kunai impaled the ground where he previously stood.

"Kenji, what the hell..."

"Look," Kenji interrupted. "We've got company."

"Dammit, how'd that kid sense us? No matter, we'll take him down face to face."

A group of 10 men sporting the Otogakure hitai-ate appeared from the shadows, weapons drawn. They appeared to be unskilled bandits rather than shinobi, but Otogakure was fairly new, so they took what they could get for an army. As expected, the men wasted no time charging in at Team 7.

"Take 'em down, boys! We've got the numbers!"

Kakashi began to worry about his team a bit despite the obviously inexperienced enemy. "Kenji, you can handle a few of these guys, right?"

"Of course, Kakashi. I might have to help out my comrades first, though."

"Kenji, wait!" Kakashi exclaimed. "There are two coming right above you!"

Kenji smirked at Kakashi's words, confident that the enemy could not touch him. He then made the Ram hand sign, moved one arm to his side, and disappeared, leaving a log in his place. The two bandits dropping from the sky lodged their weapons into the log, unable to remove them. Kakashi made quick work of the two stuck bandits, and he continued to focus on another who originally targeted him. Unfortunately, the genin, particularly Sakura, were having trouble fending off their share of enemies.

"Sasuke, Naruto, I need help! They're really strong!" Sakura yelled to her teammates.

"I'm a bit busy here, Sakura!" Sasuke responded as he blocked each of his attackers.

"Hang on, Sakura! I have to deal with these guys first!" Naruto yelled back. The pink haired girl noticed something strange about Naruto saying her name.

'Sakura...? Not Sakura-chan?' she thought to herself. Momentarily lost in thought, she left herself wide open for an attack.

'Dammit all, she's gonna get herself killed,' Sasuke thought. "Sakura, you're wide open!" Sasuke shook off his attackers and jumped in front of Sakura just in time to counter what would have been a lethal blow from a bandit's hatchet. While he saved Sakura, he left himself open for an assault from the two he was defending against before.

"Gotcha now, pretty boy!" one of the bandits shrieked as he and his comrade charged towards a defenseless Sasuke. Sasuke saw the attack coming, but he didn't have enough time to react, even with his Sharingan active. The best he could do was guard and brace himself for the steel blade heading straight for him.

Sasuke squinted his eyes in anticipation of the strike. He heard flesh tearing as expected, but he felt no pain. He opened his eyes to see Kenji standing before him, arm extended to help him off the ground.

"Sasuke, are you alright? That could've been disastrous." Kenji then took on a bit more serious tone. "Sakura, you should know better than that... Never leave yourself wide open in the middle of battle. Always stay on your guard."

"I'm sorry... I really messed up, didn't I...?" Sakura innocently questioned.

"No, Sakura," Kenji assured. "I'm sure you learned from this, and that's what's important."

"Not to interrupt," Sasuke chimed in, "but what happened to the bandits?"

"No need to worry, Sasuke; I took care of them." Kenji pointed his finger to a pile of 6 seemingly unconscious men.

"What? You took on all six of them, and you don't have a scratch? How?!" Sasuke began to grow irritated, jealous that someone near his age could achieve such skill. His emotions got the best of him, and his curse mark began to burn. After Kenji curiously glared at him for clutching his shoulder in response, Sasuke calmed himself and resumed his cool attitude.

"Never mind... Sakura, go help Naruto and Kakashi. I need to ask Kenji something... Privately." Sakura simply nodded in response and headed in the opposite direction.

"Kenji," Sasuke questioned, "how did you obtain such power?"

"What do you mean, Sasuke?"

"How'd you knock these guys out so quickly without breaking a sweat?"

Kenji stayed silent for a few moments before uttering, "They aren't knocked out..."

Sasuke gave him a puzzled look before walking over to the pile of defeated enemies. Only upon closer inspection did he notice that not one of the bodies was breathing or had a pulse.

"They're... dead?" Sasuke kicked one of the corpses over and discovered three massive claw marks through the man's lifeless chest. Another man exhibited similar markings, and the bottom two of the pile were charred and skewered beyond recognition.

Sasuke spoke his thoughts out loud, evidently laced with both amazement and fear. "You... you have to be monster to do this. I've never seen such killing intent."

If there was one person that hated to be called "monster" more than Naruto, it was Kenji.

"Excuse me, Sasuke?" Kenji questioned angrily, shooting a deadly glare towards the Uchiha. "I did nothing more than what was necessary to protect my comrades. Do you have a problem with my actions?"

Sasuke tensed in slight fear. He hadn't expected the seemingly innocent boy to have such a dark streak. "N-no, not at all. Thanks for s-saving m-me..."

Naruto couldn't help his curiousity and caught a few glimpses of his two teammates talking. He became even more intrigued when Kenji showed what appeared to be an aggressive demeanor. 'Wow, I never thought that guy could get mad... I wonder what the hell the teme did to piss him off.'

Upon hearing Sasuke's apology, Kenji returned to his normal, upbeat mood. "Alright then! Let's continue setting up camp, shall we?"

'That was close...' Sasuke thought to himself. 'After seeing what he can do, he's the last one I want to piss off. Something's not right about him...'

After the team set up camp, the younger members of the group unanimously voted Kakashi for guarding the site while they rested. With a heavy sigh, the white haired jonin leaped away to scan the perimeter of the area. In his absence, the rest of the team had not much else to do but talk amongst themselves around the fire before bed. To no one's surprise, Naruto was the first to speak up, but he brought up an unusually serious topic.

"Hey Kenji, what'd Sasuke-teme do to get under your skin earlier? You looked pretty pissed after we took care of those bandits." Sasuke tried his best to hide an otherwise audible gulp at the sound of his words.

As usual, Sakura obnoxiously intervened whenever Naruto said anything even remotely negative about her unrequited love interest. "Shut up, Naruto! Sasuke didn't do anything wrong! Kenji's probably mad about something dumb, anyway. All of you guys are like that!"

"Sakura, shut it..." murmured a pale-faced Sasuke.

"Why, Sasuke? I'm telling them you didn't do anything!" She felt no regret with her words... Until she caught a glimpse of Kenji's face. His glare made her realize why Sasuke told her to stay quiet. "I-I mean, I'm sorry... I'm gonna h-head to bed. N-night, guys."

'Alright,' Naruto mused. 'Sasuke didn't do anything... Kenji's not telling us something.'

Kenji's smile returned as quickly as it had disappeared. "Alright! Goodnight, Sakura! Sleep well!"

The entire team contemplated staring at him in confusion, but they thought better of it, fearing that his ruthless side might resurface. At this point, even Naruto knew something was amiss, and he refused to sit idly by and leave this mystery unsolved.

'Now I KNOW something's weird with this guy... And I'm gonna find out what.'

*Hmm, what's wrong with Kenji? Any Bloody Roar fan could probably figure it out with a bit of inferencing, but stick around for Chapter 4 if you wanna see where it goes. I honestly felt a bit ehhhh about this chapter, but it establishes a conflict with Kenji that ties nicely in with Naruto's past, so hopefully things unfold nicely once I get to that point. Thanks for reading - until next time!*


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